Shadows: A masks unfolds
by Yumie-11
Summary: Sasuke has finally achieved his purpose yet in the end he still feels the emptiness which he thought will soon vanish once he attained it. Now, he kept all the pains within him, trying to push away all those memories and thinking that he was ALONE.SasuSak
1. Prologue: Pain

A/N: Hi… its me again Yumie-11 from "Tears of Memories" and "Escape"… hehehe! Hope to read all your reviews! Thanks for all your support in my two fics. I'm so happy that I am writing another SasuSaku story in a different angle. Angst and drama stories were really hard but thanks to my betas Gale and Aya, they helped me survived!

I'll be waiting for all your reviews...it will let me know if the story has at least reached your taste and you want me to continue it.

Thanks guys...

**Prologue:_ Pain_**

_Kunais clashed, giving off that familiar metallic ring to the dark and silent forest. The attackers withdrew, only to strike again seconds later. There were no animals anymore; the intoxicating smell of decomposing bodies drenched in blood driving them all the still living away…_

_Driving all of them away but for two_

_Two were still fighting, barely living. Chakras already dangerously depleted, they fought with their remaining kunais and shurikens, not giving up, wanting to prove that the other was weaker… wanting to beat the other._

_Wanting to kill the other_

_Yet…_

_Two were one. Though different, they were of the same flesh, the same blood… The younger of them panted, lungs painfully exhaling, wounds covering his battered torso stretching agonizingly. The other leaned against a tree trunk, not quite as exhausted as the other, special eyes gazing at his brother longingly…_

_They were the same, in almost every way. The same flesh on their lean bodies, the same blood coursing through their veins… the same blood- drenched hands… the same look on their handsome faces… the same eyes…_

_The same murderous eyes_

_Eyes of eternal crimson damnation… the eyes of their hopeless, long- dead clan. Eyes the reason of which this fight… the reason of which the elder's strength… the reason of which the younger's undying thirst for revenge. The cursed clan of the Uchihas… would it all end here now..?_

_The older smiled; a real but nonetheless mirthless smile graced his gothic face, hands tugging at his hair as he did so. He removed the tie, releasing his long hair as he walked. He was already tired… very tired, but only in a philosophical sense. He wanted it to end._

"_Come, Sasuke…"_

_Yes, he wanted everything to end_

_The younger's armed hand twitched in anticipation; now was his chance to finally end this suffering… his suffering…_

_The chance to avenge his clan has come_

_With a war cry he lunged at his aniki, kunai held securely in his hand. His aniki didn't move, didn't make a sound as his otoutou's weapon sank deeply into his already bleeding chest. He almost chuckled upon seeing his otoutou's closed eyes, wanting those eyes same as his to open and see the damage he had caused. He reached out to his brother with red hands…_

_Blood_

"_Sasuke…"_

_Sasuke tasted blood on his lips, smelled blood on his clothes, felt blood on his hands. Had he made contact? Had he finally?_

"_Open your eyes, otoutou… "_

_He did_

_Shock raced through his veins. His goal…_

_His goal had finally been accomplished._

_There lay his brother, the elder Uchiha, Uchiha Itachi, kunai still embedded in his chest. Sasuke's hands shook with unexplainable force, whole body convulsing with what he didn't know. His aniki was staring at him through those special eyes he knew so well, the crimson in them burning fiercely as if he wasn't dying. _

_The eyes he also possessed._

"_You almost missed, otoutou… " Itachi's Sharingan eyes swirled slowly, his words slurring slightly as blood slowly dripped from the corner of his mouth. Sasuke was still staring at him with his Sharingan eyes, albeit unknowingly. "Good I didn't move…"_

"_You…" the younger Uchiha realized what his brother was saying. "YOU! YOU LET ME HIT YOU, DIDN'T YOU!" Sasuke hollered to his dying brother, dropping to his knees and straddling his waist, fists ready to strike. "DAMN YOU ITACHI!"_

_The demon just smiled, eyes already fading into black and gray… life was escaping him fast, but the elder Uchiha had one last message to his little brother…_

"_You wouldn't have hit me otherwise…"_

"_How could you say that! You're still saying I'm weak! OMAE-"_

"_I can say that because I know you… because I am you, little brother," Itachi voice didn't falter, even after Sasuke tightened his grip on his neck, mirthless smile still in place. "Don't you see? I made you into what you are… a soulless shell of a person, thriving, living on anger and pain… you could and would never change, otoutou… You live on death and suffering, just like I do…"_

"_IIE! DON'T COMPARE ME TO YOU! I AM NOT A KILLER! I AM NOT A HEARTLESS KINSLAYER! I A-"_

"_You're not?" Itachi smiled bitterly at his brother, bringing his hands up and smearing Sasuke's face with the metallic smell of his blood. "Can you look at yourself and still say that, otoutou? Can you look at the bodies around… the lives you have just ended and still say that, Sasuke? Not a kinslayer? Am I not of your family? Of your kind?" Itachi brought his bloody hands to Sasuke's arms, spreading his life onto his younger sibling._

"_I…I…" Sasuke looked frantic, eyes wild and unsure. Itachi smiled inwardly. I had succeeded…_

"_Foolish otoutou," Itachi closed his black eyes, features relaxing, body going lax under Sasuke's weight. "Little brother...at last you hate enough. You see, don't you?"_

_Sasuke's heart thumped wildly against his chest, body shaking with disbelief and disgust at himself, breathing erratic. "You- you're wrong! I'm- I'm not like you!"_

"_You see, Sasuke?" Itachi continued, voice dying into a whisper, ignoring Sasuke's denial. "By becoming me, you have defeated me… You and I are one and the same Sasuke…"_

_Sasuke looked into his aniki's face, for the first time in years seeing the elder brother he had when he was young. His eyes stung, but he refused to cry for him… for the man… the heartless bastard who killed his family… his clan…_

_He refused to cry for his beloved brother who killed his dreams and faith…_

"_You can't escape me, Sasuke… you can't escape your fate… You are Me… I am You…" Itachi's chest heaved up and then slowly down… for the last time…_

_The last time…_

_Itachi was finally dead_

_Sasuke screamed…_

_xoxoxo_

Uchiha Sasuke bolted upright as the images flashed through his mind, his being.

_Nightmares…_

It was the usual. The sullen images on his mind kept on returning as though it will happen once again. He caressed his neck where the seal had been burning, the severe pain coming from it causing him to wake up in the midst of darkness. He never had had many a long sound sleep, never had many a fine rest. It was all because he had these ominous nightmares troubling him, and every time he would close his eyes, the image of Itachi dying and Itachi's blood on him would haunt him. He'd always wake up and scream in agony, eyes wide open in shock as he stares at his lame hands. The dreary feeling won't stop clawing at his consciousness, not until he has convinced himself that it was all a dream.

_A dream… Yume… Blood…_

He suppressed the urge to go back… back to the time when everything was all good and fine… and yet, in the end, he knew it would hardly make any difference, knew that it would undoubtedly only make things worse.

_A dream… Yume…_

He looked at the ceiling, trying to calm himself down. He was positively sure that he killed Itachi. The threatening memory of that fight with his brother chased him, chased his memories. He had always longed for it, always longed to beat his brother, even setting the whole scene as his goal for as long as he could remember…

But he was still unfilled

Still void of his so- longed happiness

_I have served my purpose… so why do I still feel this way? Why do I feel so…_

_Empty?_

Sasuke felt the glaring anguish from his inner body suddenly ripping through the barriers he put around himself, his heart. Through the years, he managed to blink those tears away and chose to keep these feelings to himself; he managed to seem cold and detached, almost indifferent, always trying to control the pain within him... But now, for no particular reason…

He was afraid…

He was trembling…

He was afraid of himself… afraid to be _alone_

_Tears…_

"Naze..?" Sasuke felt tears dripping onto the back of his hand…

"Why am I not happy?"

Tears were falling from his eyes, and for the first time in a long time, he cried…

For the first time since the death of his family, Uchiha Sasuke grieved and cried…

_to be continued…_

_Otoutou- younger brother_

_Aniki- elder brother_

_Yume- dream_

_Omae- you_

_Naze- why_

A/N: What you guys think about this one? please tell me... This was what I am telling you in "Escape" so I hope you liked it!


	2. author's note

A/N: I know it's been quite a while…Gomen

A/N: I know it's been quite a while…Gomen! I'm really too busy with my school works. I'm actually an interior design major right now in college. Thus, it's hard for me to write while at the same time drawing interior perspectives and sketches.

I hope you guys could forgive me… I promise to update if ever I will be free. I am looking forward to write again in the fan fiction site.

Thanks everyone! I'm so glad to have you guys still supporting me.

Mwuah! Love lots!


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